October 28, 2018
Somewhere along my journey in photography, I gained a reputation as a still life photographer. Actually, it happened when I decided to enter some still life photos into the Indiana State Fair and they both won top honors in their class. Until that point I had never considered still life to be my “specialty” but when I looked at my photography work as a collective whole, I realized still life photos do make up a large percentage of my work.
People often ask me why I choose to do still life, and the truth of the matter is that I work full-time in a job unrelated to photography so if I am no able to travel or the weather does not cooperate on weekends and I want to shoot, still life is my go-to option. This past week was a classic example. I took three days off for a “stay-cation” thinking I would spend my time outdoors chasing colorful leaves. Mother Nature was completely uncooperative, but I wasn’t about to waste my time off so still life it was!
One thing I like about still life is that the photos I create are from my own imagination. I really do enjoy arranging and rearranging items until I find the perfect balance. I find I get lost inside my own head when I am trying to figure out how best to tell a story in a still life photo. Although I haven’t traveled farther than my small studio in my home, the outside world and worries fall away as if I have. Sometimes I struggle with ideas and other times, they are handed to me. I recently opened an Etsy shop to sell my photography, and I noticed while perusing other photography on Etsy that people often like to buy for a given room. I have a small collection of antique kitchen items I decided to experiment with. Below are a few of the photos that resulted. A few might be appearing soon in an Etsy shop near you. ;)
